May 2012

Schedule of events for the 2012 West Seattle High School All School Reunion

Friday, June 1

4:30-7:00pm
View Classic Cars on SW Stevens St.

5:00-6:00pm
Doors Open, Pick up Programs, Name Tags, Roam Halls
Food and Refreshments available for purchase from the students and parents of the 2012 Grad Night Committee until 7:30pm

6:00-7:15pm
Individual Class Reunions in assigned classrooms

6:45- 7:30pm
WS Big Band Playing in the Theater

7:30-9:00pm
Program in the Theater, Scholarships, Hall of Fame

Ever wondered how to safely get to from point A to point B while using self-propelled transportation?

Good news if so: The Seattle Department of Transportation released an online bike route map earlier this month, complete with information on streets with bike lanes, shared lanes, bike racks, and interesting stops - from coffee shops to heritage trees - along the way.

SDOT provides a word map to understanding the bike map:

The first thing you’ll want to do is choose whether you are a frequent, average or occasional rider. This narrows or expands the routes you might want to use based on their difficulty. From there you can select ‘points of interest’ (coffee shops, bike shops, libraries, etc.), events that might impact the ‘right-of-way’ and your ride (such as construction) and ‘other transportation’ which shows where the Streetcar operates and direction of one-way streets. Use the Legend button at the top of the page (upper left corner to be exact) to find out what the map symbols stand for. Don’t forget to zoom in—some of the data is not visible if you don’t.

Tom Fucoloro from Seattle Bike Blog informs us that students of the Ballard High School Earth Service Corps are hosting a bike drive on Friday, May 25, to collect people’s old bikes and donate them to Bike Work, an organization that repairs and gives bikes to youth in need.

The students will be collecting old bikes from 4 p.m. until 7 p.m. at the upper parking lot of the high school.

If you live in the area and can’t get to the bike drive in time, you can always donate bikes at the recycling and transfer station located in Fremont at 1350 North 34th Street. Thanks to a bicycle-recycling partnership between Bike Works and CleanScapes, people can 'dump' their bicycles for free.

As June 1 approaches, grocery stores in the area are preparing for liquor sales. When Initiative 1183 was voted into law, taking the state out of the spirits business, it also carried forward existing taxes, including the "Spirits Sales Tax" of 20.5%.

Of the nine grocery stores in West Seattle eight are in the process of preparing. The only store not preparing at this point is PCC, as no decision has yet been made.

Safeway stores have replaced sections of their wine departments and are using a colorful, cloth to cover the products on the shelves. Safeway said they plan to carry "an average of 450" brands, "including a good selection of premium brands."

QFC in Westwood Village is making preparations but as of Thursday, the area in the wine department was still unstocked.

West Seattle Thriftway was busy on May 23, stocking shelves and preparing the area in the northeast corner of the store.

By Christopher Duclos, Sports Intern

With summer just right around the corner, Ballard Boys & Girls club has opened registrations for youth sport summer camps! Sport camps include All-Sports, Basketball, Soccer, and Baseball. See below for additional information:

All Sports - This camp provides a wide variety of sports to participate in such as soccer, basketball, flag football, volleyball, relay races and more! This camp will be open to boys and girls ages 7-12 years old. These exciting camp sessions will be held on June 25th-29th, July 2nd-3rd, 5th-6th, August 20th-24th and August 27th-30th. Be sure to pack your tennis shoes, water and lunch as this camp could shake up to be a fun filled week of activities.

Baseball Camps - Do you have a son or daughter interested in baseball? Don't miss out on registering them for Boys and Girls Club's baseball camp! There will be 6 total sessions - Fielding, Hitting, 2 separate sessions of all aspects of baseball, Advanced, and baseball 101. The dates for these sessions are listed below:
Session 1 Fielding : July 9th-13th
Session 2 Hitting : July 16th-20th

By Christopher Duclos, Sports Intern

With summer just right around the corner, Ballard Boys & Girls club has opened registrations for youth sport summer camps! Sport camps include All-Sports, Basketball, Soccer, and Baseball. See below for additional information:

All Sports - This camp provides a wide variety of sports to participate in such as soccer, basketball, flag football, volleyball, relay races and more! This camp will be open to boys and girls ages 7-12 years old. These exciting camp sessions will be held on June 25th-29th, July 2nd-3rd, 5th-6th, August 20th-24th and August 27th-30th. Be sure to pack your tennis shoes, water and lunch as this camp could shake up to be a fun filled week of activities.

Baseball Camps - Do you have a son or daughter interested in baseball? Don't miss out on registering them for Boys and Girls Club's baseball camp! There will be 6 total sessions - Fielding, Hitting, 2 separate sessions of all aspects of baseball, Advanced, and baseball 101. The dates for these sessions are listed below:
Session 1 Fielding : July 9th-13th

The non-profit food store, Martin's Way, that opened at the corner of Findlay Street s.w. and Delridge Way s.w. in January has struck a deal with Tony's Produce and is now carrying "17 kinds of fresh fruit and 10 different vegetables," said owner Vik Puri.

The West Seattle Herald was the first to tell you about the store which operates as a non-profit. Puri and his partner Nikhi Aum wanted to bring a healthy alternative to the Delridge neighborhood which since it is so far from major grocery stores, is considered a "food desert."

Martin's Way, so named because of their admiration for Martin Luther King Jr. and others including Mahatma Gandhi is decidedly less commercial than most stores. There is no signage on the "orangeish" colored building, though in a concession to gain attention, hand painted signs are now up on the curb to let people know about the fresh food inside.

On Tuesday and Wednesday night, iFLY Seattle, that bright red tower in Tukwila just east of the Southcenter Mall, joined San Francisco, Hollywood, Orlando, Montreal and Moscow iFLY vertical wind tunnel facilities in the 2012 International Bodyflight Association, or "IBA" Tour. The IBA is tied into the Austin-based iFLY franchise, SkyVenture, and claims over 500 instructors worldwide. There are 22 iFLY locations including one in Singapore and two in Dubai. The Highline Times covered the Sept. 23, 2011, grand opening of iFLY Seattle here.

Competitors choose to compete on all the stops or limit themselves to certain locations.

The instructors, staff, and enthusiasts take this indoor skydiving stuff seriously.

Residents of North Highline will have the opportunity to cast their vote on annexation on November 6, 2012, and in advance of that vote Burien is starting their outreach process to inform citizens on what to expect if they become residents of the city.

Burien released a nine-page Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) document on annexation, available for download at the top of this story (or at their website). There is also an online tool to enter your address and find out if you are part of the proposed annexation zone.

The FAQ covers everything from boundaries of the proposed area and why Burien wants to annex, to more specific queries on taxes, public safety and utilities services.

Here are some highlights:

Press release:

Jamie Ewing, a fifth grade teacher at Mount View Elementary, has been selected as a first round finalist in Microsoft’s Partners in Learning 2012 US Forum.

The competition recognizes teachers and school leaders for innovative ways of incorporating technology into curriculum.

Ewing is one of 44 teachers from 15 states who will participate in the national competition this summer at Microsoft’s Redmond campus.

Ewing was selected for developing a virtual science fair for his fifth grade class. The project, eLAB: Science in the Cloud, combines traditional learning about the scientific method with new technology skills.

Students begin by exploring earth systems and designing related science experiments.

Students will present their experiments as interactive web games, videos or PowerPoint presentations. The digital presentations will be stored on a Windows Live SkyDrive, so students can bring their ideas to other schools around the world.

Once data is collected and experiments are finished, student groups will use their findings to produce a community-based project addressing environmental damage.